Louisiana will reapply to education grant program

Times-Picayune archiveThe cornerstone of Louisiana's application continues to be the creation of a 'value-added' system for measuring teacher performance.

Louisiana officials will make a second attempt at netting millions in federal education dollars after losing out to Delaware and Tennessee in the first round of the Race to the Top grant program.

The state chose not to alter the fundamentals of its application after finishing 11th in the first round, a ranking that surprised many analysts who had predicted Louisiana would win, or at least make the top five. Instead, officials focused on shoring up a few areas of the application where they felt the state unnecessarily lost points, said State Superintendent Paul Pastorek. Revised applications are due Tuesday.

"I don't think you are going to see any ... substantive changes," said Pastorek.

Rather, the revised application will include a "clearer presentation" of the state's programs in at least two areas: its use of data to support instruction, and its emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math (so-called STEM subjects).

Times-Picayune archive'They want whatever change you are talking about to affect the largest audience. This will help us compete against other (states) who also passed laws. It's one thing to get acceptance on a voluntary basis, but if you actually have a law that says, "'You must do it," it gives the Department of Education a more powerful assurance that it will be done,' state Education Superintendent Paul Pastorek said.Officials also revised the proposed budget for the grant money because Louisiana is eligible for no more than $175 million in the second round, but had applied for $315 million in the first round. In total, the federal government has $3.4 billion remaining to dole out between what's expected to be several states.

The cornerstone of Louisiana's application continues to be the creation of a "value-added" system for measuring teacher performance. Such an approach would judge teachers on growth they make with individual students, not simply the students' absolute test scores. Half of a teacher's evaluation would be based on the test score growth data with state education officials authorized to craft the precise formula.

Pastorek thinks Louisiana can now make a more convincing case that the plan would have a statewide impact since the Legislature last week approved a bill that makes student performance a component of public school teacher evaluations. Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the bill into law immediately after the vote.

"They want whatever change you are talking about to affect the largest audience," Pastorek said. "This will help us compete against other (states) who also passed laws. It's one thing to get acceptance on a voluntary basis, but if you actually have a law that says, 'You must do it ... it gives the Department of Education a more powerful assurance that it will be done."

Comparable legislation has already passed in Colorado, Maryland, Connecticut, Washington, Tennessee and Michigan. Indeed, the dangling of Race to the Top's millions prompted significant -- although not seismic -- changes to education laws in several states. For instance, after months of tumultuous debate, New York's lawmakers supported raising the state's cap on charter schools last week, partly in an effort to compete more aggressively for the Race to the Top money.

Steve Monaghan, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, said the state's failure to win in the first round helped shape some of the legislative priorities for education officials this session. "I don't think we would have spent quite as much time on fashioning legislation if the application had been successful," he said.

The LFT has supported the state's application, while the other statewide teachers union, the Louisiana Association of Educators, has remained adamantly opposed to the plan throughout.

About 40 percent of the state's school districts -- representing nearly 50 percent of Louisiana's public school children -- signed on to the state's application initially. That number has not changed.

"The fact is that these reforms are not easy, and just because 100 percent of any state doesn't want to participate doesn't mean that the one third or one half of the state that wants to participate shouldn't be rewarded for that effort."

In the first round, the five peer reviewers who graded each application differed widely in their assessment of Louisiana's blueprint.

One reviewer gave the state a score of 472 out of 500, while another outlier awarded only 349 points and wrote that "there will not be any significant and lasting statewide impact as a result of this plan."

The 16 finalist states from the first round, with the exception of the two winners, are reapplying. But several other states have dropped out of contention, including Indiana and Minnesota. In Minnesota, Gov. Tim Pawlenty cited the Legislature's intractability on proposals for alternative ways to become teachers and linking teacher evaluations to student performance.